Blessings

Today, a new friend thanked me for blessing her with compassion. =) I don’t think anyone’s ever done that to me before. It's not that I’d all of a sudden become compassionate. Neither was it my first act of compassion. I think that it’s just because she had the eyes to see the motive behind what I did for her. After all, who thanks for compassion? I'm glad she expressed her gratitude because now, I'd be more aware of it, too. Truly, if we’re on the lookout, we can see new and typical blessings upon blessings that Papa God gives us. Sometimes the blessings are plainly obvious: they are (not in order of importance) money, material things, rest, sleep, time, good health, beauty, joy, love, kindness, goodness, patience, peace due to the absence of fear, etc.. Other times, we get blessed with a peace that we can’t even explain. Nothing different has happened, we’re still in the same difficult situation that we’re in before the peace was given. And yet, the peace is evident. It’s there. We stopped fussing about our situation. We’re no longer weighed down by our concerns. We still don’t have answers but we know it will work out. We know we’ll make it.

Last week, we were especially blessed with Eli turning 17 and Eng turning 53. We celebrated with the usual eating out but it was made even more special because my 91-year old father and brother came for a visit. He normally lives in Toronto but he and my sister went to the Philippines to sort out some papers regarding my mother’s death. Since he was in Asia, I invited him to come here. He didn't really want to come because of the flying involved. I also realized that travelling was costly and at his age, difficult. I actually gave up on him coming but I found out he wanted to come. =) He apparently wanted to ride an elephant. I'm sure he wanted to see us, as well. =) He and my brother stayed six days. We had Thai massages, looked at animals, spent time talking, and eventually, they rode an elephant. What a blessing to have them here! =)

The sweetest moment for me was when I touched my father’s left cheek with my left palm. As I held him, his right hand immediately went up and held my wrist, keeping my hand there. His response surprised me because he wasn't usually affectionate. A bit later, I realized that he was missing my mother’s touch. We held one another a little while longer, thankful for the blessing of expressing love through touch, before letting go.

Thank you, Papa God, our giver of blessings. You know exactly what to do to touch our hearts. We praise you for loving us and for being such a blessing!